K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2019

Overall

Title: K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2019

Date: April 25(Thu) ~ 26(Fri) 2019

Venue: Conrad Hotel, Seoul (Plenary, Breakout Sessions)

Host: MoneyToday Media

Review of the Previous K.E.Y. PLATFORM

K.E.Y. PLATFORM is one of Korea’s top knowledge-sharing conferences in which great scholars and opinion leaders from home and abroad come together in one place for free discussions and knowledge creation. Last year, this global conference was held with great fanfare, with about 2,000 attendees – the largest in its history.

K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2019 was more special in that it was held in the year it celebrated the 20th founding anniversary of MoneyToday. Under the theme of “Edge of the Frontier: Meet the Tomorrows”, participants shared insights and ideas to seek new opportunities amid uncertainties in rapidly changing international politics.

In preparation for the 7th K.E.Y. PLATFORM, the Special Coverage Team met with as many as about 100 global innovators, research institutes, and experts in all walks of life to exchange diverse and in-depth views. The team’s coverage focused on patterns of transition to digital economy being driven by the expansion of blockchain technology as well as international politics in which tensions have been rising high due to US-China trade disputes and Brexit (Britain leaving the EU).

To this end, the special team went into full operation from the beginning of the year and performed a comprehensive analysis of the stories covered and additional research jointly with The Heritage Foundation, one of the think tanks representing the United States, to come up with global response strategies for Korea. In this process, we also conducted in-depth interviews with experts at various institutes including the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and George Washington University.

To cover stories on transition into the digital economy, our journalists visited top blockchain conferences in and out of Korea where they identified the latest trends, covered a variety of projects and shared in-depth opinions on the present and future of blockchain with experts. In Silicon Valley, California, we visited about 10 blockchain startups for on-site interviews as well as IBM Watson in New York City to check out the world’s most advanced technology and trends.

Top experts from the Heritage Foundation were invited to the event – it was as if the think tank was moved over, as it was, to Yeouido, Seoul – to figure out what’s on the mind of US President Donald Trump, who was wielding sway over the global market where concerns about recession were rising again.

The Heritage Foundation’s foremost experts who make policy proposals to President Trump up close came on stage to emphasize that, although international politics and world economy were mired in confusion, due to US-China trade tensions and Brexit, Korea could still seize opportunities, depending on what response strategies it would implement.

After that, Vice Minister of Economy and Finance Yun-cheol Koo and Vice Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation Mi-ock Mun, who are leading Korea’s economic and science/technology policies, also came on stage to deliver keynote lectures.

The last presentation on the first day of the plenary session unveiled solutions to achieve economic innovation for Korea, which MoneyToday developed through in-depth coverage. MoneyToday proposed to inject new vitality into the Korean economy by nurturing the innovative startup ecosystem on a national scale.

In the subsequent three breakout sessions (△ Finance, △ Smart City, △ Science and Technology), officials from major global companies including IBM as well as experts in and out of Korea participated for discussion on the topics of blockchain ecosystem, smart city success stories, and promising future technologies.

On the second day, “Plug-in & Talk,” a forum under a new concept that allows panelists and audience to communicate closely, was held under two themes: “For a Better Token Economy” and “How to Win on Guanggun Jie 2019”.

In the course of prior coverage in Silicon Valley, the K.E.Y. PLATFORM Special Coverage Team witnessed a rebound of the blockchain market. While most of fraudulent or flawed projects that caused distrust in the past were cleared away, projects with great potential were gaining momentum for implementation. In other words, the market was being restructured. Prudent entrepreneurs’ enthusiasm and hard work were shining through in the wake of the craze.

Once again in 2019, K.E.Y. PLATFORM elicited enthusiastic responses on site. There were many participants taking notes on their tablet PC or laptop and taking pictures of presentation slides with their mobile phone. The 350-or-so chairs that were initially arranged in the main venue were not enough, so the staff rushed to bring in temporary seats. They were still not enough to seat all the participants, so some of them had to stand throughout the presentations. During coffee breaks, participants asked the presenters and panelists questions directly and freely, proving that the conference is a new model of open knowledge sharing.

K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2019 was packed with a tight two-day schedule, including special lectures by iFLYTEK (Keda Xunfei)’s General Manager of International Cooperation Wuxu Zhang (titled “China’s No. 1 AI Company Tells Us about the Future of Korea-China Digital Cooperation”) and Professor Hyosang Ryou at Seoul School of Integrated Sciences and Technologies (titled “Fourth Industrial Revolution and Behavioral Economics”). It offered a truly breathtaking feast of knowledge and insight to the audience, drawing high praise once again.

The year 2019 marks K.E.Y. PLATFORM’s seventh anniversary, which has established itself as a byword for “reverse thinking” and “rule-breaking and innovation” to find opportunities in a crisis. K.E.Y. PLATFORM creates new traditions for knowledge conferences by proposing timely themes and a new vision every year. It will continue to find answers to the way forward and future for Korea at K.E.Y. PLATFORM 2020.